


Battalion Life Day Party

by sourgummyworms



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Everyone Is Alive, Gen, Life Day (Star Wars), Star Wars Secret Santa 2020, umbara? i don't know her
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:42:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28265598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sourgummyworms/pseuds/sourgummyworms
Summary: For the #swsecretsanta2020 event!While stopping over Kashyyyk, the 501st celebrates a local holiday. Shenanigans may or may not occur.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20
Collections: Star Wars Secret Santa 2020





	Battalion Life Day Party

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MelonMochiii](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelonMochiii/gifts).



> This is a gift for @melonmochiii on Tumblr, hope you enjoy!

“Alright men, settle down,” Anakin called over the crowd. It was no use, and the hundreds of identical soldiers gathered in the hangar of the  _ Resolute _ continued to talk. Beside him, Ahsoka rolled her eyes.

“Master, can we hurry this up? Bariss is waiting for me.”

He shrugged helplessly at her. The padawan rolled her eyes dramatically, but put a hand to her mouth and whistled. It shot through the hangar and immediately the clones settled down. Ahsoka gave the floor to Anakin.

He cleared his throat before beginning his announcement. “As you know, we have some time to rest and refuel while we’re here in the Kashyyyk system. And, after that grueling campaign on Ryloth, I think we all need a break. We got to Kashyyyk just in time for a local holiday, too!”

To Ahsoka’s growing embarrassment and the 501st’s continued confusion, Anakin pulled on a bright red robe. It was not flattering but he didn’t seem to mind. “Life Day! It’s all about celebrating family and joy in the winter months. I think it would be a great morale boost for you all to have a Life Day party.”

Ahsoka looked up from comming Barriss. “What do you mean ‘you all’? Are you otherwise busy?”

“Uh, unfortunately, I am,” he hedged. “There’s a conference with some Mid-rim senators this weekend and I’ve been requested for security.”

“Sure,” Ahsoka muttered.

“Anyways, just because Ahsoka will be on a training retreat and I won’t be here doesn’t mean you guys can’t have fun. That’s why I’m putting Captain Rex here in charge of a party planning committee to set up the festivities.”

“What?” Rex asked. He stood up straighter and stared at his general. “When were you gonna tell me this?”

“Right now,” Anakin answered nonchalantly.

Rex swiped a hand over his face. “Okay. Sure, yeah. We could do with a party.”

Anakin beamed. “Wizard. What time is it?”

“Ten to noon.”

Ahsoka huffed. “I’m gonna be late, Master!”

“Kark. Me, too.” He looked up at the 501st as he made for the exit. “Have fun, stay out of trouble, and Admiral Yularen’s in charge!”

“He’s on shore leave with his family!” shouted an ensign.

“Nevermind, then. Have fun!” With that, the general and commander made a quick exit for their own holiday plans. Rex stood in front of the confused troops. In the back, the mechanics were laughing amongst themselves. The uniformed deck officers quietly watched in their own corner. The rest of the room was filled with the various companies that made up the 501st. Torrent company, as usual, was front and center.

“Looks like I’m in charge of running things. The general wants this uh,  _ party _ , though,” the word sounded strange in his mouth. “Fives and Echo, get a few men together. You’re leading the party planning committee.”

“What?” yelped the twin ARCs.

“It’s a party. You two are highly trained super soldiers. I think you can handle it.”

~

“Alright. I’ve given you all assignments,” Echo said, slamming a stack of datapads down on the conference table. Around him, the handful of troops he and Fives had rounded up sat in dejected boredom. “We have the next day to prep everything for this party so listen up.”

“Do we have any other choice?” Fives mumbled.

Echo ignored him. “I’ve done the liberty of starting off with the white bantha. It’s one of the traditional ceremonies that’s outlined in your information pamphlets on Life Day where everyone is given a person to get a gift for. Tomorrow morning everyone will get another trooper randomly selected to be their gift recipient.”

“Can we ask them what they want?” asked Tup.

“No, it’s secret until you give them the gift at the party.”

Hardcase raised his hand. “What are we even supposed to get as gifts?”

“Listen, we'll figure out specifics later,” Echo pinched his brow. “Let me tell you all your assignments first.”

He pointed to Fives. “Fives is in charge of music.”

“I’ve done my research, too, and the Wookie Life Day music is… not gonna cut it,” said the other ARC. “Lots of howling. I think I’ll just plug in my personal playlist.”

“Please don’t. You can’t dance to that wall of noise you call ‘techno-rock’. Find some... agreeable music.

“Tup and Dogma, you’re in charge of decorations.” The two nodded, Tup much more enthusiastically. “Hardcase and Jesse are on food and drink. Don’t make me regret that.”

“No promises. We have no control over someone spilling some rotgut into the punch bowl,” hummed Jesse.

“You do have control over it, you're  _ in charge of it _ .”

Fives nudged his brother in the arm and he took a deep breath. “I’m fine, I’m not stressed, this is gonna be fine. That should be everyone… Kix? We didn’t tell you to be here- do you  _ want _ to join the party planning co-”

“Oh, no no no,” the medic assured. He was in the far corner of the room leaning back in his chair and resting had hands on the back of his shaved head. “I’m just here to watch. It’s very entertaining.”

The other six glared at him. “Go clean out a bedpan,” grumbled Dogma.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the party planning committee,” a voice came from the hallway. Another clone stepped in, his armor sporting a wave on the pauldron. A handful of others flanked him with the same decal.

“Wave company,” growled Fives. “What are you doing here?”

“Just wanted to see the beginning of the end for you shinies. Your party is going to be such a complete disaster, the General will stop picking you to lead missions.”

Hardcase stood up. “You wanna bet? This party’s gonna kick-”

“Bet? Gambling’s against regulations. Should I report this to command…?”

“Alf, that’s not necessary,” implored Echo. “Can you just let us get back to business?”

Alf the ARC scoffed. The other Wave company soldiers laughed callously. “Fine. But no matter what you do, this Life Day will be a disaster for you.”

They watched each trooper leave the hallway. Fives slowly closed the door behind them and quickly turned to the group. “They’re definitely planning something.”

“Agreed,” nodded Echo. “Change of plans. Dogma and Jesse are now leading security. The rest of you, we need to blow this thing out of the kriffing park!”

With invigorated enthusiasm, they began preparations.

~

In his quarters, Rex was on a holocall with Ahsoka. She was leaning back with jogan fruit circles in her eyelids and hot towels wrapped around her lekku. It looked like her ‘training retreat’ was going well. “This whole thing is just really strange,” he said.

“I mean it’s just like Republic Day or any other holiday. Did you have any holidays on Kamino?”

“No.”

Ahsoka sat up and lifted the jogan off of her eyes. “What? Seriously?” Rex shrugged. “That’s terrible. Holidays are important, especially now. It’s like a little bit of light in the dark that you can look forward to, even in a war.”

“That does sound nice.”

Ahsoka smiled. “It is. Just have some faith that it’ll be fun. Maybe we can make it a tradition for the 501st!”

“If the jokers I put in charge can make it happen, sure,” he agreed. A yawn escaped his lips, the young Jedi noticing.

“What time is it there? You should get some sleep before-” his alarm went off. Time to get up for the morning rounds. “-nevermind. If you want some of the good caf we got on Felucia there’s a bag in my quarters.”

Rex thanked her and hung up. He picked up his old caf-stained mug with the broken handle. As he stretched and made his way to her empty quarters, the morning announcements popped up on his datapad. It was the usual news about shipment delays and what they were serving in the mess hall, but there was also an extra message at the bottom, sent from Echo.

The captain stared at it. “What in the Sith hells is a white bantha?”

~

The lower levels of the ship were dim and dank. High-traffic places like the bridge and hallways were kept clear out of necessity, and the judgment of high-ranking admirals who thought a clean ship meant a successful ship. They never went down to halls that had more room for pipes than people, where errant steam shot out at you if you didn’t know when to get out of the way.

Alf and two others from Wave company narrowly avoided the steam bursts but still ended up with more than a few grease stains by the time they got to the head mechanic’s office. The clone mechanic was a lot scruffier than regulations permitted, but who ever came down to enforce that? He tugged uncomfortably on his jumpsuit before addressing the soldiers. “What do you want?”

“We have a simple proposal to make,” Alf explained smugly. “I bet you and your workers don’t get as much appreciation for your efforts to keep this ship afloat as you should, am I right?”

The other clone nodded warily.

“Well, we feel the same way. The General only ever chooses Torrent company to do the cool missions and ignores the rest of us. But, if they slip up and someone else comes to the rescue?”

“You get picked instead, I get it. What’s in it for us?” 

“General Skywalker is very excited about this party. It would be an awful shame if it was ruined, say with a power outage,” Alf explained, coming closer to the mechanic. “Once the power is fixed by our intrepid mechanics and electricians down here we’ll make sure to let the General know it was Torrent’s fault it happened in the first place.”

The mechanic put a thoughtful hand to his stubbly chin. “Hm, alright. My guys will do it. It’s nice to have someone come down here for something other than to raid the rotgut stills…”

Alf smiled impatiently. “Oh, we’re here for that too.”

“...nevermind,” he sighed. Tiredly, he waved them into the back room where the smell of alcohol was wafting through.

~

Meanwhile, the newly formed Party Planning Committee was putting their plans in motion. Rex came into the hangar to watch beside Kix as they got to work. It had taken most of the day to encourage the pilots to move all of the y-wings and gunships to one corner of the enormous room, and only now could Tup get started on decorations. Fives was setting up the sound system, and Echo was talking with the security team. Rex wondered if that part was really necessary.

The only person on the committee who didn’t seem to be doing much was Hardcase. He was just sitting on a crate of food rations and chewing his nails to stumps. While Kix listened in on the security briefing, Rex went to sit next to the worried soldier.

“Don’t worry, Hardcase. I’m sure your party will go off without a hitch.”

Hardcase nearly jumped at the sight of the captain. “It’s ah, not the party specifically I’m worried about, sir. It’s the white bantha.”

“Oh? Who did you get?”

He shrugged nervously. “Not supposed to tell. I just can’t think of anything good to get them.”

“I’ve been having trouble with that, too,” he admitted. “But, if it were me, I would be happy with anything.”

“Really?” Hardcase asked. “Nothing specific?”

“It’s the thought that counts, right?”

“Yeah, I guess. Thanks, sir.”

Rex patted his back. “No problem. Now if you’ll excuse me, I should probably get back to running this entire ship.”

Once the captain left, Fives sat next to his friend. “Did his advice help at all?”

“Not really, he’s  _ my _ white bantha. ‘Nothing specific’?! What am I supposed to do with that?”

~

It took way longer than it probably should have, but eventually the Party Planning Committee was ready to unveil the Life Day festivities. The group was very much on edge though, as they had yet to find any evidence of Wave company sabotage. They knew to expect it, the question was simply when and where.

In the meantime, Echo was scanning the crowds as they streamed into the hangar. Nothing suspicious, but nobody looked very enthusiastic either. Weren’t these things supposed to be fun? The other clones should be laughing, dancing, eating the food.

Maybe  _ that _ was the sabotage! Wave company had somehow gotten everyone to hate all the hard work they had put into the party. That was definitely the reason.

“This party sucks,” Fives muttered.

Echo gasped. “ _ Bal gar _ , Fives?”

“What? Echo, our party is terrible. Nobody wants to eat the food because it’s just our usual rations, the decorations are…” he gestured vaguely at the emergency lights and caution tape streamers Tup had put up. “And nobody likes my music! Which I find strange.”

“Okay, fine. This is nothing like what the General wanted. But we did our best, didn’t we?”

Dogma and Jesse joined them at the edge of the room. “We didn’t find anything,” Dogma reported.

“Except for bored brothers,” Jesse added glumly. “I hope Skywalker isn’t too disappointed in us.”

“Hoping won’t do anything,” a smug voice said from behind the group. They turned around to find Alf, of course, standing with his arms crossed. Fives was in his face in a second.

“What did you do?” he growled.

“Me? I didn’t do anything! It was all these lights that caused the power outage.”

Echo looked around at the still working lights. “What power outage?”

A grinding sound silenced the room. The speakers Fives had set up sparked and stopped playing music. The lights in the hangar shut off, followed by the ones in the hallway. Even the background hum of the ship’s systems quieted. All that was left was the dim red emergency lights.

“That power outage,” Alf laughed while Jesse and Dogma shoved past him. They headed for the hangar controls.

The party guests only seemed more unimpressed than before. Some were even leaving, as if sitting in the barracks was more entertaining. “No, no, don’t leave!” Tup pleaded. When most of the troops ignored him he turned to the ARCs. “We have to do something to fix this.”

“I assure you the ship’s lights won’t come back on until the electricians fix it,” Alf said unhelpfully. “Tomorrow.”

Fives ignored him. “Let’s just focus on one thing at a time. How can we get some music going again?”

Possible solutions raced through Echo’s head before he brightened. “I’ve got it. There’s a few boys that can play instruments. Find Whistler, Tune, and ‘85. They’ll use any excuse to play for a crowd.”

Alf pouted his lip. “Pretty weak backup plan.” He left in a huff much to the relief of Torrent company clones. Hardcase joined the others as he left and stuck his tongue out at the Wave company ARC.

“Did he have something to do with this?”

“Yep,” Echo confirmed. “Please don’t tell me you have more bad news.”

“It’s… hard to tell?” Hardcase shrugged. “People are bringing their own food. They don’t want to keep eating the ration bars. I kind of don’t blame them, and Ridge brought out his stash of chocolate-!”

“That’s great! That means people are staying!” Tup said excitedly. “Do you think we can find some more real food? I bet there’s some in the officer’s lounge.”

Echo sent the two off in search of more palatable snacks at the same time Fives was returning with the musicians. Whistler had a flute, Tune had his prized fiddle, and ‘85 carried a set of drums under his arms. There were also three more brothers with various instruments all following Fives to where his broken speakers were. Echo put his hands on his hips, slightly more at ease. “Okay, we’ve got music back, food on the way, now we just need-”

“Let there be light!” Shouted Jesse. He was in the hangar control room and looking up at the ceiling. It was clear why when the massive panels began to move. They opened up to the clear night sky of Kashyyyk. The moon lit up the entire hangar and the men still there awed at the sight.

The noise alerted the Wave company saboteurs and they came back to the party they ruined to find live music, a delicious spread of contraband food, and an amazing view. Even as Alf seethed some of his lackeys joined in on the celebrations. Who cared about who went on what missions? Life Day might actually be worth celebrating more.

Finally, Echo could relax. He sat back and watched the others dance and laugh. Rex sat next to him, though he didn’t recognize him at first. Instead of his usual welded armor he was wearing a knit sweater and cap over his blond head. When Echo did a double-take, he smirked. “What? It’s cold in here.”

“Looking good, Captain!”

The two turned around to find none other than General Skywalker. Senator Amidala was with him, too, and Commander Tano not far behind. “I thought you weren’t coming back until tomorrow,” Rex said.

“Eh, the conference was getting boring,” Skywalker explained.

Ahsoka tugged on a Life Day sweater of her own. “We wouldn’t miss this party for the galaxy, Rexter.”

The senator waved a covered dish in front of her. “And we brought cookies!”

Hearing the news that the party was getting interesting, others began to return. By the time the moons were high in the sky, the hangar was full again. Soldiers danced to the music their brothers played and let the stress of constant war melt away. Eventually the mechanics fixed the power up again and joined in on the fun as well. Even Alf decided it wasn’t too bad when a shiny from Torrent shyly handed him his white bantha gift: a stuffed white bantha plush he’d found at a nearby toy store (In fact, most of the clones had received the exact same gift, not fully understanding the concept of the gift exchange. Needless to say the Wookie store clerk had been very confused.)

Fives got Echo a new shaving kit, and Echo got him the same exact thing. They both loved their gifts. Dogma’s white bantha was Tup- he gave his squadmate a stack of new books to read even though he always complained about him staying up late reading them. Rex had gotten the head mechanic. He didn’t know the other clone very well despite working on the same ship, and had gotten him a scented candle at the commander’s suggestion. He seemed to like it though, and the two spent the night sharing stories and the mechanic’s best batch of rotgut.

Hardcase was one of the last to give his gift. What if the captain didn’t like it? He couldn’t just not give him anything though, so he squared his jaw and handed him the wrapped gift. Rex slowly unwrapped it to reveal a brand new mug. The side read ‘GALAXY’S BEST CAPTAIN’.

Maybe he shouldn't have drunk so much rotgut but he teared up. “Do you like it?” Hardcase asked hesitantly.

“Yeah, it’s cool,” he choked out. Thankfully Hardcase ran off to keep dancing after that.

~

The sun rose the next day on an insanely messy hangar. With the top still opened up, the rays of the sun woke up the six clones sleeping on the floor.

“Did we do it? Did we actually pull that off?” Dogma asked.

Echo checked his datapad and found a message of congratulations from the General. He couldn't wait to make it a 501st tradition. “I guess we did.”

“Great,” Fives yawned. “Now what?”

They looked around the hangar. Decorations and discarded stuffed banthas littered the floor. The only thing clean in the room was the snack tables that had been cleared of every crumb.

“... sleep in?” Jesse suggested. The others nodded in agreement and laid back down for a long winter’s nap.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Holidays!  
> 🔔🎉🎁🎄🕎


End file.
